Terminal apparatus and communication method

ABSTRACT

A plurality of communication stations transmit a plurality of modulated signals so that data is efficiently transmitted from a network through negotiation by a communication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving modulated signals of a plurality of wireless communication schemes with a proxy server present on a network. The communication terminal receives a plurality of modulated signals to obtain data. Thus, the efficiency of frequency utilization is improved.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a terminal apparatus and communicationmethod for transmitting and receiving data using a plurality of wirelesscommunication schemes.

2. Description of the Related Art

In wireless communication, a method for a communication terminal toefficiently obtain data from a network is important in terms ofeffective utilization of frequency resources. If the communicationterminal supports a plurality of wireless communication schemes, it isdesirable to make efficient use of those wireless communication schemes.

For example, Japanese Patent No. 4688638 discloses a mobilecommunication system that provides communication services to terminalsover a plurality of networks, each network corresponding to one of aplurality of wireless communication schemes. In connection with it, thepatent discloses a method for switching the network to which acommunication terminal connects by registering the position informationof the communication terminal to each of the plurality of networks.

SUMMARY

Japanese Patent No. 4688638, however, includes no discussion of a methodfor switching the network to which the terminal connects withoutregistering the position information of the terminal to each network.

One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides a terminal apparatusand communication method that enable a terminal apparatus capable oftransmitting and receiving a plurality of modulated signals using aplurality of wireless communication schemes to receive data via aplurality of networks without registering its position information toeach of the plurality of networks.

In one general aspect, the techniques disclosed here feature a terminalapparatus including: a transmitter, which in operation, transmits linkinformation related to M individual networks (M being an integer from 2to N inclusive) via one of the M individual networks and transmits, viathe one of the M individual networks, a transmission request forcontent, each of the M individual networks including corresponding oneof M communication stations with which the terminal apparatus hasestablished links among N communication stations (N being an integergreater than or equal to 2) to which the terminal apparatus can connectand which employ different communication schemes from each other; areceiver that receives data related to the content via L individualnetworks selected based on the link information (L being an integer from2 to M inclusive) and performs reception processing on the received datafor each of L communication schemes; and a received data analyzer thatcombines data after the reception processing to obtain the content.

It should be noted that general or specific embodiments may beimplemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computerprogram, a storage medium, or any selective combination thereof.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal apparatuscapable of transmitting and receiving a plurality of modulated signalsusing a plurality of wireless communication schemes can receive data viaa plurality of networks without registering its position information toeach of the plurality of networks.

Additional benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments willbecome apparent from the specification and drawings. The benefits and/oradvantages may be individually obtained by the various embodiments andfeatures of the specification and drawings, which need not all beprovided in order to obtain one or more of such benefits and/oradvantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of communication condition in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary configuration of a terminal;

FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of wireless communication schemes;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary configuration of a proxy server;

FIG. 5 shows an example of communication condition in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of a contentacquisition method in the first embodiment;

FIGS. 7A to 7C show an example of a content transmitting method;

FIG. 8 shows an example of communication condition in a secondembodiment;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary configuration of the ith individual networkincluding the ith communication station;

FIG. 10 shows an example of communication condition in the secondembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of an initial settingprocess in the second embodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing the procedure of the contentacquisition method in the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detailwith reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments describedbelow are merely examples and the present disclosure is not limited bythese embodiments.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows an example of communication condition in this embodiment. Aterminal 110 is a terminal that supports transmission and reception in aplurality of wireless communication schemes. Assume here that the numberof wireless communication schemes supported by the terminal 110 is N(where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, or N is an integergreater than or equal to 3). The N different wireless communicationschemes are named “a first wireless communication scheme”, “a secondwireless communication scheme”, “a third wireless communication scheme”,. . . , and “an Nth wireless communication scheme”. That is, there is an“ith wireless communication scheme” (i is an integer from 1 to Ninclusive).

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 110 performs communication with a firstcommunication station 107_1 using the first wireless communicationscheme. Arrow 108_1 in FIG. 1 means that the terminal 110 transmits amodulated signal and the first communication station 107_1 receives themodulated signal. Arrow 109_1 means that the first communication station107_1 transmits a modulated signal and the terminal 110 receives themodulated signal.

The terminal 110 also performs communication with a second communicationstation 107_2 using the second wireless communication scheme. Arrow108_2 in FIG. 1 means that the terminal 110 transmits a modulated signaland the second communication station 107_2 receives the modulatedsignal. Arrow 109_2 means that the second communication station 107_2transmits a modulated signal and the terminal 110 receives the modulatedsignal.

The terminal 110 also performs communication with an Nth communicationstation 107_N using the Nth wireless communication scheme. Arrow 108_Nin FIG. 1 means that the terminal 110 transmits a modulated signal andthe Nth communication station 107_N receives the modulated signal. Arrow109_N means that the Nth communication station 107_N transmits amodulated signal and the terminal 110 receives the modulated signal.

As mentioned above, it is assumed that the terminal 110 performscommunication with the ith communication station 107_i using the ithwireless communication scheme (where i is an integer from 1 to Ninclusive).

The first communication station 107_1 performs communication with aproxy server 104. Accordingly, the first communication station 107_1 cansend data to the proxy server 104 (105_1) and also receive data from theproxy server 104 (106_1).

Similarly, the second communication station 107_2 performs communicationwith the proxy server 104. Accordingly, the second communication station107_2 can send data to the proxy server 104 (105_2) and also receivedata from the proxy server 104 (106_2).

Finally, the Nth communication station 107_N performs communication withthe proxy server 104. Accordingly, the Nth communication station 107_Ncan send data to the proxy server 104 (105_N) and also receive data fromthe proxy server 104 (106_N).

As mentioned above, the ith communication station 107_i performscommunication with the proxy server 104; the ith communication station107_i can send data to the proxy server 104 and receive data from theproxy server 104 (where i is an integer from 1 to N inclusive).

The proxy server 104 performs communication with the ith communicationstation 107_i (i being an integer from 1 to N inclusive) as alreadymentioned and also with a server 102. Accordingly, the proxy server 104can send data to the server 102 (103_1) and also receive data from theserver 102 (103_2).

The server 102 performs communication with the proxy server 104 asalready mentioned and also can send data to a network (101_1) andreceive data from the network (101_2).

Next, using FIG. 1, two methods by which the terminal 110 can obtaindata from the network will be described as specific examples ofcommunication.

[First Method for Obtaining Data from Network]

First, a first method by which the terminal 110 can obtain data from thenetwork will be described. A case where the terminal 110 acquirescontent (or application) # A present on the network will be described.The terminal 110 acquires content (or application) # A from the networkby way of the proxy server 104 and the server 102. In the example ofFIG. 1, the terminal 110 will acquire the data of content (orapplication) # A from a plurality of ones of the N communicationstations, that is, the first communication station 107_1, the secondcommunication station 107_2, . . . , and the Nth communication station107_N.

The authority to select these a plurality of communication stations maybe possessed either by the terminal 110 or the proxy server 104, as willbe described below respectively.

<When Proxy Server 104 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the proxy server 104 possesses the authority to selectcommunication stations will be described. In this case, the proxy server104 selects a plurality of communication stations for transmitting thedata of content (or application) # A. The proxy server 104 thendistributes the data of content (or application) # A to the plurality ofcommunication stations selected.

For example, when the proxy server 104 selects the first communicationstation 107_1 and the second communication station 107_2 fortransmitting the data of content (or application) # A, the proxy server104 will distribute the data of content (or application) # A obtained byway of the server 102 to 106_1 and 106_2.

<When Terminal 110 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the terminal 110 possesses the authority to selectcommunication stations will be described. In this case, the terminal 110selects a plurality of communication stations for obtaining the data ofcontent (or application) # A. The terminal 110 then transmitsinformation (group information) indicating the plurality ofcommunication stations selected for obtaining the data of content (orapplication) # A to the proxy server 104 through one of thecommunication stations. Based on the group information, the proxy server104 then distributes the data of content (or application) # A to theplurality of selected communication stations.

For example, when the first communication station 107_1 and the secondcommunication station 107_2 are selected, the proxy server 104 willdistribute the data of content (or application) # A obtained by way ofthe server 102 to 106_1 and 106_2.

[Second Method for Obtaining Data from Network]

Next, a second method by which the terminal 110 can obtain data from thenetwork will be described. A case where the terminal 110 acquires aplurality of pieces of content (or applications) present on the networkwill be described. For example, assume that the terminal 110 is toacquire content (or application) # A and content (or application) # B.In the second method, the terminal 110 will acquire content (orapplication) # A from one or more communication stations and content (orapplication) # B from one or more communication stations. The one ormore communication stations for obtaining content (or application) # Amay partially or entirely overlap the one or more communication stationsfor obtaining content (or application) # B.

A case where the terminal 110 acquires a plurality of pieces of content(or applications) from a plurality of communication stations asmentioned above will be described. The authority to select the pluralityof communication stations and/or the authority to designatecommunication stations from which the terminal is to obtain each pieceof content among the selected a plurality of communication stations maybe possessed either by the terminal 110 or the proxy server 104, asdescribed below.

<When Proxy Server 104 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the proxy server 104 possesses the authority to select thecommunication station(s) which will send the data of content (orapplication) # A and/or the authority to select the communicationstation(s) which will send the data of content (or application) # B willbe described. In this case, the proxy server 104 selects one or morecommunication stations as transmitting stations that are to send thedata of content (or application) # A. The proxy server 104 also selectsone or more communication stations as transmitting stations that are tosend the data of content (or application) # B. The proxy server 104 thendistributes the data of content (or application) # A to the one or morecommunication stations selected for content (or application) # A and/ordistributes the data of content (or application) # B to the one or morecommunication stations selected for content (or application) # B.

For example, assume that the proxy server 104 selects the firstcommunication station 107_1 and the second communication station 107_2for transmitting the data of content (or application) # A and selectsthe Nth communication station 107_N for transmitting the data of content(or application) # B. In this case, the proxy server 104 will distributethe data of content (or application) # A obtained by way of the server102 to 106_1 and 106_2, and distributes the data of content (orapplication) # B obtained by way of the server 102 to 106_N.

<When Terminal 110 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the terminal 110 possesses the authority to select thecommunication station(s) which will send the data of content (orapplication) # A and/or the authority to select the communicationstation(s) which will send the data of content (or application) # B willbe described. In this case, the terminal 110 selects one or morecommunication stations for obtaining the data of content (orapplication) # A. The terminal 110 also selects one or morecommunication stations for obtaining the data of content (orapplication) # B. The terminal 110 then transmits information (groupinformation A) indicating the communication station(s) selected forobtaining the data of content (or application) # A, and/or information(group information B) indicating the communication station(s) selectedfor obtaining the data of content (or application) # B to the proxyserver 104 through one of the communication stations. The proxy server104 then distributes the data of content (or application) # A tocommunication station(s) based on the group information A. The proxyserver 104 also distributes the data of content (or application) # B tocommunication station(s) based on the group information B.

For example, when the first communication station 107_1 and the secondcommunication station 107_2 are selected for obtaining the data ofcontent (or application) # A, the proxy server 104 distributes the dataof content (or application) # A obtained by way of the server 102 to106_1 and 106_2. When the Nth communication station 107_N is selectedfor obtaining the data of content # B, the proxy server 104 distributesthe data of content (or application) # B obtained by way of the server102 to 107_N.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary configuration of the terminal 110 according tothis embodiment.

A transmission control unit 205 takes transmission control information204 as input, and outputs a transmission control signal 206 which isbased on the transmission control information 204. The transmissioncontrol information 204 includes information for processing associatedwith transmission by each wireless communication scheme, such as errorcorrection coding used for data sent by the terminal from eachtransmitting unit, a modulation scheme (mapping) for generatingmodulated signals, frequency conversion, and amplification, for example.Detailed operations will be described later.

A reception control unit 217 takes a reception control information 216as input and outputs a reception control signal 218 which is based onthe reception control information 216. The reception control information216 includes information for processing associated with reception byeach wireless communication scheme, such as frequency conversion,demodulation, and error correction decoding to be applied to signalsreceived by each receiving unit, for example.

A transmit data analyzing unit 202 takes transmission information 201and the transmission control signal 206 as input, controls thetransmission information 201 based on the transmission control signal206, and outputs first transmit data 203_1, second transmit data 203_2,. . . , and the Nth transmit data 203_N. That is, the transmit dataanalyzing unit 202 outputs an ith transmit data 203_i (i being aninteger from 1 to N inclusive (N being an integer greater than or equalto 2, or greater than or equal to 3)).

A first transmitting unit 207_1 takes the first transmit data 203_1 andthe transmission control signal 206 as input, applies processing such aserror correction coding, modulation (mapping), frequency conversion, andamplification (applies processing for transmission by the first wirelesscommunication scheme) to the first transmit data 203_1 based on thetransmission control signal 206, and outputs a first transmit signal208_1. The first transmit signal 208_1 is output from a first transmitantenna 209_1 as a radio wave.

A second transmitting unit 207_2 takes the second transmit data 203_2and the transmission control signal 206 as input, applies processingsuch as error correction coding, modulation (mapping), frequencyconversion, and amplification (applies processing for transmission bythe second wireless communication scheme) to the second transmit data203_2 based on the transmission control signal 206, and outputs a secondtransmit signal 208_2. The second transmit signal 208_2 is output from asecond transmit antenna 209_2 as a radio wave.

An Nth transmitting unit 207_N takes the Nth transmit data 203_N and thetransmission control signal 206 as input, applies processing such aserror correction coding, modulation (mapping), frequency conversion,amplification (applies processing for transmission by the Nth wirelesscommunication scheme) to the Nth transmit data 203_N based on thetransmission control signal 206, and outputs an Nth transmit signal208_N. The Nth transmit signal 208_N is output from an Nth transmitantenna 209_N as a radio wave.

Similarly, an ith transmitting unit 207_i takes an ith transmit data203_i and the transmission control signal 206 as input, appliesprocessing such as error correction coding, modulation (mapping),frequency conversion, and amplification (applies processing fortransmission by the ith wireless communication scheme) to the ithtransmit data 203_i based on the transmission control signal 206, andoutputs an ith transmit signal 208_i. The ith transmit signal 208_i isoutput from the ith transmit antenna 209_i as a radio wave (i being aninteger from 1 to N inclusive).

A first receiving unit 212_1 takes a first received signal 211_1received by a first receive antenna 210_1 and a reception control signal218 as input, performs reception processing (such as frequencyconversion, demodulation, and error correction decoding) on the firstreceived signal 211_1 (applies processing for reception by the firstwireless communication scheme) based on the reception control signal218, and outputs a first received data 213_1.

A second receiving unit 212_2 takes a second received signal 211_2received by a second receive antenna 210_2 and the reception controlsignal 218 as input, performs reception processing (such as frequencyconversion, demodulation, and error correction decoding) on the secondreceived signal 211_2 (applies processing for reception by the secondwireless communication scheme) based on the reception control signal218, and outputs a second received data 213_2.

An Nth receiving unit 212_N takes an Nth received signal 211_N receivedby an Nth receive antenna 210_N and the reception control signal 218 asinput, performs reception processing (such as frequency conversion,demodulation, and error correction decoding) on the Nth received signal211_N (applies processing for reception by the Nth wirelesscommunication scheme) based on the reception control signal 218, andoutputs an Nth received data 213_N.

Similarly, an ith receiving unit 212_i takes an ith received signal211_i received by an ith receive antenna 210_i and the reception controlsignal 218 as input, performs reception processing (such as frequencyconversion, demodulation, and error correction decoding) on the ithreceived signal 211_i (applies processing for reception by the ithwireless communication scheme) based on the reception control signal218, and outputs an ith received data 213_i (i being an integer from 1to N inclusive).

A received data analyzing unit 214 takes the first received data 213_1,the second received data 213_2, . . . , and the Nth received data 213_N(that is, the ith received data 213_i (i being an integer from 1 to Ninclusive (N being an integer greater than or equal to 2, or greaterthan or equal to 3))) and the reception control signal 218 as input, andoutputs received data 215 based on the reception control signal 218.

With the configuration of FIG. 2, the communication described with FIG.1, in particular simultaneous reception of a plurality of modulatedsignals and simultaneous transmission of a plurality of modulatedsignals are carried out.

Although an antenna is connected to each of the transmitting units andreceiving units in FIG. 2, the present disclosure is not limited tothis. For example, a single antenna may be used for both transmissionand reception per communication scheme. Alternatively, an antenna may beshared among a plurality of transmitting units and a plurality ofreceiving units. Alternatively, a plurality of antennas may be connectedto each transmitting unit and each receiving unit.

In the context of the present disclosure, a plurality of signals may besent via each transmitting unit or a plurality of signals may bereceived by each receiving unit. For example, a terminal may beconfigured to send a plurality of modulated signals which are differentin frequency, frequency band, the number of transmit antennas, and thelike from each other in the corresponding wireless communication schemethrough each transmitting unit (that is, each transmitting unit may beconfigured to send the same a plurality of modulated signals). In thiscase, a plurality of transmit signals may be input to each transmittingunit. The terminal may also be configured to receive a plurality ofmodulated signals which are different in frequency, frequency band, thenumber of transmit antennas, and the like from each other in thecorresponding wireless communication scheme through each receiving unit.In this case, a plurality of signals may be output by each receivingunit.

Next, an example of a plurality of wireless communication schemes usedby the terminal 110 for transmission and reception will be described.

FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of wireless communication schemes.In the example of FIG. 3, the number of wireless communication schemesis N=4 in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2. It is assumed that the wirelesscommunication schemes shown in FIG. 3 respectively correspond to thefirst to fourth wireless communication scheme.

In the example of FIG. 3, the first wireless communication schemeindicates that the communication scheme is wireless local area network(LAN) and the frequency used is 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. Similarly, the secondwireless communication scheme indicates that the communication scheme isBluetooth® and the frequency used is 2.4 GHz. The third wirelesscommunication scheme indicates that the communication scheme is thethird generation mobile phone and the frequency used is 800 MHz or 2GHz. The fourth wireless communication scheme indicates that thecommunication scheme is the fourth generation mobile phone and thefrequency used is 800 MHz or 2 GHz.

While FIG. 3 shows a case where the first to fourth wirelesscommunication schemes are different from each other, two or more samewireless communication schemes may be included. For instance, the firstand the second wireless communication schemes may be wireless local areanetwork (LAN) and use the same or different frequencies. In such a case,the provider that provides communication services in the first wirelesscommunication scheme (for example, wireless LAN) may be the same ordifferent from the provider that provides communication services in thesecond wireless communication scheme (for example, wireless LAN).

Next, the configuration of the proxy server 104 in FIG. 1 will bedescribed.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary configuration of the proxy server 104. Theproxy server 104 shown in FIG. 4 includes a transmit data distributingunit 402, a received data analysis and received data distributing unit405, and a wireless communication scheme selecting unit 408.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 takes transmit data 401 (thetransmit data 103_2 in FIG. 1) and a control signal 409 as input, andoutputs transmit data 403_1 for the first communication station (thetransmit data 106_1 for the first communication station in FIG. 1),transmit data 403_2 for the second communication station (the transmitdata 106_2 for the second communication station in FIG. 1), . . . , andtransmit data 403_N for the Nth communication station (the transmit data106_N for the Nth communication station in FIG. 1) based on the controlsignal 409.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 does not always output all ofthe transmit data 403_1 for the first communication station, transmitdata 403_2 for the second communication station, . . . , and transmitdata 403_N for the Nth communication station. The transmit datadistributing unit 402 outputs transmit data to communication stationswhich send a modulated signal. Information on how to controldistribution by the transmit data distributing unit 402 is included inthe control signal 409.

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 takesreceived data 404_1 from the first communication station (the receiveddata 105_1 from the first communication station in FIG. 1), receiveddata 404_2 from the second communication station (the received data105_2 from the second communication station in FIG. 1), . . . , andreceived data 404_N from the Nth communication station (the receiveddata 105_N from the Nth communication station in FIG. 1), and thecontrol signal 409 as input, performs analysis and distribution of thereceived data based on the control signal 409, and outputs received data406 (the received data 103_1 in FIG. 1).

To the received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405,the received data 404_1 from the first communication station, receiveddata 404_2 from the second communication station, . . . , and receiveddata 404_N from the Nth communication station are input. However, datais not always present in all of the received data 404_1 through 404_N.To the received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405,only received data obtained by communication stations that received amodulated signal transmitted by the terminal 110 are input. Informationon how to control analysis and distribution of received data by thereceived data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 isincluded in the control signal 409.

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 alsoretrieves a terminal request from control information contained in eachof the received data 404_1 from the first communication station, thereceived data 404_2 from the second communication station, . . . , andthe received data 404_N from the Nth communication station, and outputsa terminal request signal 407. The terminal request contains informationon communication stations that the terminal can access and/orinformation on communication stations with which the terminal hasalready established links, for example.

The wireless communication scheme selecting unit 408 takes a(network-side) request signal 400 and the terminal request signal 407 asinput, determines communication stations which will send a modulatedsignal and communication stations which will receive a modulated signal,and outputs the control signal 409 including information on thecommunication stations determined.

Next, a process for the terminal to acquire content on the network viacommunication station(s), the proxy server, and the server in thisembodiment will be described. FIG. 5 shows an example of communicationcondition. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the terminal establisheslinks with the first to fourth communication stations and requestscontent data via at least one or more of those communication stations.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of the contentacquisition method in this embodiment. For the sake of simplicity, FIG.6 shows only one communication station. In the following, the procedureof the content acquisition method will be described with reference toFIG. 6.

The terminal transmits “information on communication stations with whichlinks have been already established” to the proxy server via thecommunication station (S601). The proxy server saves the information oncommunication stations with which links have been already establishedwith the terminal.

The terminal then makes a request for content data via one of thecommunication stations by way of the proxy server (S602).

The proxy server then selects communication stations to be used fortransmitting the data of the requested content based on the informationon communication stations with which links have been already established(S603).

The proxy server does not have to transmit content data to the terminalusing all of the communication stations with which links have beenalready established. That is, the proxy server may transmit content datavia at least some of the communication stations with which links havebeen already established. In such a case, selection of communicationstation(s) to be used for transmitting content data will be made basedon instructions from the network, the server, and communicationstations, and/or feedback information from the terminal.

Next, the proxy server distributes content data to the communicationstation(s) selected and transmits the content data (S604). Thecommunication station(s) send the distributed content data to theterminal in accordance with the instruction from the proxy server(S605).

The terminal receives content data transmitted from at least one or morecommunication stations and performs reception processing and other kindsof processing on the received data to obtain the content (S606).

Although the example of FIG. 6 shows that content data is transmittedfrom a single communication station, content data may be transmittedfrom a plurality of communication stations. In addition, the example ofFIG. 6 illustrates a case where the communication station via which theterminal transmits the information on communication stations with whichlinks have been already established to the proxy server, thecommunication station via which the request for content data is made,and the communication station that transmits content data to theterminal are the same one communication station. According to thepresent disclosure, however, the communication station via which theterminal transmits the information on communication stations with whichlinks have been already established to the proxy server, thecommunication station via which the request for content data is made,and the communication station that transmits content data to theterminal may be different from each other.

The details of the communication condition in FIG. 5 are as shown inFIG. 1. The terminal described in FIG. 6 has the configuration shown inFIG. 2. The proxy server described in FIG. 6 has the configuration shownin FIG. 4. The operation at S603 described in FIG. 6 is conducted by thewireless communication scheme selecting unit 408 of FIG. 4. Theoperation at S604 is conducted by the transmit data distributing unit402 of FIG. 4.

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 takesthe received data 404_1 from the first communication station, thereceived data 404_2 from the second communication station, . . . , andthe received data 404_N from the Nth communication station, and thecontrol signal 409 as input. The received data analysis and receiveddata distributing unit 405 then performs analysis and distribution ofthe received data based on the control signal 409, and outputs thereceived data 406. With this configuration, the received data analysisand received data distributing unit 405 conducts the receivingoperations at S601 and S602 in FIG. 6.

To the received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405,the received data 404_1 from the first communication station, thereceived data 404_2 from the second communication station, . . . , andthe received data 404_N from the Nth communication station are input.However, data is not always present in all of the received data 404_1through 404_N. To the received data analysis and received datadistributing unit 405, only received data obtained by communicationstations that received a modulated signal transmitted by the terminal110 are input. Information on how to control analysis and distributionof received data by the received data analysis and received datadistributing unit 405 is included in the control signal 409.

Next, the content transmitting method described with FIGS. 5 and 6 willbe described using FIGS. 7A to 7C. FIGS. 7A to 7C show an example of thecontent transmitting method in this embodiment.

For example, assume that the proxy server selects the first and thefourth communication stations for transmitting content data based on theinformation on communication stations with which links have been alreadyestablished. This selection is made by the wireless communication schemeselecting unit 408 of FIG. 4. Using FIGS. 7A to 7C, how the transmitdata distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 distributes transmit data in thiscase will be described.

FIG. 7A illustrates the transmit data 401 in FIG. 4, FIG. 7B illustratesthe transmit data 403_1 for the first communication station in FIG. 4,and FIG. 7C illustrates the transmit data for the fourth communicationstation in FIG. 4. The horizontal axis in FIGS. 7A to 7C representstime.

As shown in FIG. 7A, data are input to the transmit data distributingunit 402 of FIG. 4 as data #1, data #2, data #3, . . . , with respect tothe time on the horizontal axis. The unit of data may be any of bit,byte, packet, or frame.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 then determines tosend data #1 through the first communication station; thus the data isplaced as shown in FIG. 7B.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 also determines tosend data #2, data #3, data #7, data #9, . . . through the firstcommunication station; thus the data are placed as shown in FIG. 7B.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 further determines tosend data #4 through the fourth communication station; thus the data isplaced as shown in FIG. 7C.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 also determines tosend data #5, data #6, data #8, data #10, . . . , through the fourthcommunication station; thus the data are placed as shown in FIG. 7C.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 distributes the datashown in FIG. 7B to the first communication station and the data shownin FIG. 7C to the fourth communication station. The first and fourthcommunication stations each send the distributed data to the terminal.

Data related to the content requested by the terminal may include aninformation packet comprising information bits for the body data of thecontent and a parity packet comprising parity bits added for errorcorrection of the body data of the content. In this case, the datarelated to the content will be coded with an error correction code. Theerror correction code introduced in this layer is referred to asapplication layer forward error correction (FEC). At the communicationstations described hereinafter, coding with the error correction code isperformed again for wireless transmission, for example. That is, errorcorrection coding at the physical layer (PHY layer) is performed. Whenan information packet and a parity packet are transmitted, thecommunication station that transmits the information packet may bedifferent from the communication station that transmits the paritypacket. By the terminal receiving the information packet and the paritypacket via different communication stations, reception processing at theterminal is kept from becoming complicated.

When the application layer FEC is not introduced, packets would begenerated from the content body, for example.

As described above, a terminal capable of transmitting and receiving aplurality of modulated signals using a plurality of wirelesscommunication schemes shares information on communication stations withwhich links have been already established with a proxy server present onthe network. This makes a plurality of communication stations send aplurality of modulated signals, so that data can be efficientlytransmitted from the network. Also, the communication terminal canefficiently improve the data transmission rate by receiving a pluralityof modulated signals to obtain data, providing the effect of improvedefficiency of frequency utilization.

This embodiment has been described by taking wireless LAN, Bluetooth®,the third generation mobile phone, and the fourth generation mobilephone as examples of communication schemes as described in FIG. 3, butcommunication schemes are not limited to these. This embodiment can besimilarly practiced when other wireless communication scheme is selectedas one of the communication schemes used for simultaneous transmission.

Although it is described as proxy server in this embodiment, the proxyserver may instead be the server. Likewise, the server may instead bethe proxy server. Accordingly, a configuration including no proxy serveror no server is also possible.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment will describe a method in which a terminal shareswith a proxy server information on communication schemes the terminalcan use for communication and data is transmitted by communicationstations belonging to a plurality of individual networks.

FIG. 8 shows an example of communication condition in this embodiment. Aterminal 810 is a terminal that supports transmission and reception in aplurality of wireless communication schemes. Assume here the terminal810 supports N types of wireless communication scheme (N being aninteger greater than or equal to 2 (or N being an integer greater thanor equal to 3)), and the N types of wireless communication schemes arenamed “a first wireless communication scheme”, “a second wirelesscommunication scheme”, “a third wireless communication scheme”, . . . ,and “an Nth wireless communication scheme”. That is, there is an “ithwireless communication scheme” (i being an integer from 1 to Ninclusive).

However, the terminal 810 does not have to support transmission andreception by all of the N types of wireless communication scheme. Inother words, the terminal 810 supports transmission and reception by Nor less types of (two or more types of) wireless communication scheme.

As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal 810 can perform communication with afirst individual network 807_1 including a first communication stationby the first wireless communication scheme. Arrow 808_1 in FIG. 8 meansthat terminal 810 transmits a modulated signal and the first individualnetwork 807_1 receives the modulated signal. Arrow 809_1 means that thefirst individual network 807_1 transmits a modulated signal and theterminal 810 receives the modulated signal.

The phrase “a first individual network including a first communicationstation” means at least including a communication station and a server,or at least including a communication station and a proxy server.

The terminal 810 can perform communication with a second individualnetwork 807_2 including a second communication station by the secondwireless communication scheme. Arrow 808_2 in FIG. 8 means that theterminal 810 transmits a modulated signal and the second individualnetwork 807_2 receives the modulated signal. Arrow 809_2 means that thesecond individual network 807_2 transmits a modulated signal and theterminal 810 receives the modulated signal.

The phrase “a second individual network including a second communicationstation” means at least including a communication station and a server,or at least including a communication station and a proxy server.

The terminal 810 can perform communication with an Nth individualnetwork 807_N including the Nth communication station by the Nthwireless communication scheme. Arrow 808_N in FIG. 8 means that theterminal 810 transmits a modulated signal and the Nth individual network807_N receives the modulated signal. Arrow 809_N means that the Nthindividual network 807_N transmits a modulated signal and the terminal810 receives the modulated signal.

The phrase “the Nth individual network including the Nth communicationstation” means that each individual network at least includes acommunication station and a server, or at least includes a communicationstation and a proxy server.

As mentioned above, the terminal 810 can perform communication with theith, or any, individual network including the ith communication stationby the ith wireless communication scheme (where i is an integer from 1to N inclusive).

A feature of this embodiment is that, separately from the firstindividual network 807_1, the second individual network 807_2, . . . ,and the Nth individual network 807_N, it includes a host network 899located upstream of the N individual networks. The host network 899includes a host server 802 and a host proxy server 804.

The first individual network 807_1 performs communication with the hostproxy server 804. Accordingly, the first individual network 807_1 cansend data to the host proxy server 804 (805_1) and also receive datafrom the host proxy server 804 (806_1).

Similarly, the second individual network 807_2 performs communicationwith the host proxy server 804. Accordingly, the second individualnetwork 807_2 can send data to the host proxy server 804 (805_2) andalso receive data from the host proxy server 804 (806_2).

Finally, the Nth individual network 807_N performs communication withthe host proxy server 804. Accordingly, the Nth individual network 807_Ncan send data to the host proxy server 804 (805_N) and also receive datafrom the host proxy server 804 (806_N).

As mentioned above, the ith individual network 807_i performscommunication with the host proxy server 804, and can send or receivedata (where i is an integer from 1 to N inclusive).

The host proxy server 804 performs communication with the ith individualnetwork 807_i (i being an integer from 1 to N inclusive) and also withthe host server 802. Thus, the host proxy server 804 can send data tothe host server 802 (803_1) and also receive data from the host server802 (803_2).

The host server 802 performs communication with the host proxy server804, and also can send data to a network further upstream from the hostnetwork 899 (801_1) and receive data from the network (801_2).

Next, using FIG. 8, two methods by which the terminal 810 can obtaindata from the network will be described as specific examples ofcommunication.

[First Method for Obtaining Data from Network]

First, a first method by which the terminal 810 can obtain data from thenetwork will be described. A case where the terminal 810 acquirescontent (or an application) # A present on the network will bedescribed. The terminal 810 acquires content (or application) # A fromthe network by way of the host proxy server 804 and the host server 802.In the example of FIG. 8, the terminal 810 will acquire the data ofcontent (or application) # A via M (M being an integer from 2 to Ninclusive) communication stations out of the N communication stationsincluded in the first individual network 807_1, the second individualnetwork 807_2, . . . , and the Nth individual network 807_N.

The authority to select these a plurality of communication stations maybe possessed either by the terminal 810 or the host proxy server 804, aswill be described below respectively.

<When the Host Proxy Server 804 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the host proxy server 804 possesses the authority to selectcommunication stations will be described. In this case, the host proxyserver 804 selects M communication stations for transmitting the data ofcontent (or application) # A. The host proxy server 804 then distributesthe data of content (or application) # A to the M individual networksrespectively including the M selected communication stations.

For example, a case where the host proxy server 804 transmits data ofcontent (or application) # A to the terminal 810 through the firstindividual network 807_1 including the first communication station andthe second individual network 807_2 including the second communicationstation will be described. In this case, the host proxy server 804 willdistribute the data of content (or application) # A obtained by way ofthe host server 802 to 806_1 and 806_2 in FIG. 8.

<When Terminal 810 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the terminal 810 possesses the authority to selectcommunication stations will be described. In this case, the terminal 810selects M communication stations for obtaining the data of content (orapplication) # A. The terminal 810 then transmits information on the Mindividual networks respectively including the M communication stationsselected for obtaining the data of content (or application) # A to thehost proxy server 804 through an individual network including one of thecommunication stations. The host proxy server 804 then distributes thedata of content (or application) # A to the M individual networks basedon the information.

For example, a case where the host proxy server 804 transmits the dataof content (or application) # A to the terminal 810 through the firstindividual network 807_1 including the first communication station andthe second individual network 807_2 including the second communicationstation will be described. In this case, the host proxy server 804 willdistribute the data of content (or application) # A obtained by way ofthe host server 802 to 806_1 and 806_2 in FIG. 8.

[Second Method for Obtaining Data from Network]

Next, a second method by which the terminal 810 can obtain data from thenetwork will be described. A case where the terminal 810 acquires aplurality of pieces of content (or applications) present on a networkwill be described. For example, assume that the terminal 810 is toacquire content (or application) # A and content (or application) # B.In the second method, the terminal 810 will acquire content (orapplication) # A from one or more individual networks corresponding toone or more communication stations and content (or application) # B fromone or more individual networks corresponding to one or morecommunication stations. The one or more communication stations forobtaining content # A may partially or entirely overlap the one or morecommunication stations for obtaining content # B.

A case where the terminal 810 acquires a plurality of pieces of contentfrom a plurality of communication stations will be described. Theauthority to select the plurality of individual networks respectivelycorresponding to those communication stations and/or the authority todesignate individual networks including communication stations fromwhich the terminal is to obtain each piece of content may be possessedeither by the terminal 810 or the host proxy server 804 as describedbelow.

<When Host Proxy Server 804 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the host proxy server 804 possesses the authority to selectindividual networks including communication stations which will send thedata of content (or application) # A and/or the authority to selectindividual networks including communication stations which will send thedata of content (or application) # B will be described. In this case,the host proxy server 804 selects one or more individual networkscorresponding to one or more communication stations as individualnetwork(s) including the communication station(s) which will send thedata of content (or application) # A. The host proxy server 804 alsoselects one or more individual networks corresponding to one or morecommunication stations as individual network(s) including thecommunication station(s) which will send the data of content (orapplication) # B. The host proxy server 804 then distributes the data ofcontent (or application) # A to the one or more individual networksselected for content (or application) # A, and/or distributes the dataof content (or application) # B to the one or more individual networksselected for content (or application) # B.

For example, assume that the host proxy server 804 selects the firstindividual network 807_1 including the first communication station andthe second individual network 807_2 including the second communicationstation for transmitting the data of content (or application) # A, andselects the Nth individual network 807_N including the Nth communicationstation for transmitting the data of content (or application) # B. Inthis case, the host proxy server 804 will distribute the data of content(or application) # A obtained by way of the host server 802 to 806_1 and806_2 in FIG. 8, and distribute the data of content (or application) # Bobtained by way of the host server 802 to 806_N.

<When Terminal 810 Possesses the Authority to Select>

A case where the terminal 810 possesses the authority to selectindividual network(s) including communication station(s) which will sendthe data of content (or application) # A and/or the authority to selectindividual network(s) including communication station(s) which will sendthe data of content (or application) # B will be described. In thiscase, the terminal 810 selects one or more individual networks forobtaining data of content (or application) # A and/or selects one ormore individual networks for obtaining data of content (or application)# B. The terminal 810 then transmits information on individualnetwork(s) including the communication station(s) selected for obtainingthe data of content (or application) # A and/or information onindividual network(s) including the communication station(s) selectedfor obtaining the data of content (or application) # B to the host proxyserver 804 through an individual network including one of thecommunication stations. The host proxy server 804 then distributes datato individual network(s) including the communication station(s) whichwill send the data of content (or application) # A based on theinformation received from the terminal. The host proxy server 804 alsodistributes data to individual network(s) including the communicationstation(s) which will send the data of content (or application) # B.

For example, when the data of content (or application) # A is to betransmitted to the terminal 810 through the first individual network807_1 including the first communication station and the secondindividual network 807_2 including the second communication station, thehost proxy server 804 will distribute the data of content (orapplication) # A obtained by way of the host server 802 to 806_1 and806_2 in FIG. 8. Likewise, when the data of content (or application) # Bis to be transmitted to the terminal 810 through the Nth individualnetwork 807_N including the Nth communication station, the host proxyserver 804 will distribute the data of content (or application) # Bobtained by way of the host server 802 to 806_N in FIG. 8.

Next, the N individual networks described in FIG. 8 will be described bytaking the ith individual network 807_i (i being an integer from 1 to Ninclusive) as an example. FIG. 9 shows an exemplary configuration of theith individual network 807_i including the ith communication station. Asshown in FIG. 9, the ith individual network includes an ithcommunication station 906, a server 902, and a proxy server 904.

The server 902 performs communication with the network. Arrow 901_1 inFIG. 9 indicates a signal transmitted by the server 902 to the network,and arrow 901_2 indicates a signal received by the server 902 from thenetwork.

The proxy server 904 performs communication with the server 902. Arrow903_1 in FIG. 9 indicates a signal transmitted by the proxy server 904to the server 902, and arrow 903_2 indicates a signal received by theproxy server 904 from the server 902.

The proxy server 904 performs communication with the ith communicationstation 906. Arrow 905_1 in FIG. 9 indicates a signal received by theproxy server 904 from the ith communication station 906, that is, asignal transmitted by the ith communication station 906 to the proxyserver 904. Arrow 905_2 in FIG. 9 indicates a signal transmitted by theproxy server 904 to the ith communication station 906, that is, a signalreceived by the ith communication station 906 from the proxy server 904.

The ith communication station 906 performs communication with the proxyserver 904. The ith communication station 906 also performscommunication with a terminal. Arrow 907_1 in FIG. 9 indicates a signalreceived by the ith communication station 906 from the terminal, andarrow 907_2 indicates a signal transmitted by the ith communicationstation 906 to the terminal.

As the terminal 810 in this embodiment has a similar configuration tothe one shown in FIG. 2 and performs similar operations to the terminaldescribed in the first embodiment, they are not described again.

An example of the plurality of wireless communication schemes used bythe terminal 810 in this embodiment for transmission and reception issimilar to the example described in FIG. 3. It is assumed that N=4, thatis, the terminal 810 supports the first through fourth wirelesscommunication schemes.

An example of the configuration of the host proxy server 804 in thisembodiment is similar to that of the proxy server 104 shown in FIG. 4.In the following, the configuration of the host proxy server 804 will bedescribed using FIG. 4.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 takes the transmit data 401 (thetransmit data 803_2 in FIG. 8) and the control signal 409 as input, andoutputs the transmit data 403_1 for the first individual network (thetransmit data 806_1 for the first individual network in FIG. 8), thetransmit data 403_2 for the second individual network (the transmit data806_2 for the second individual network in FIG. 8), . . . , and thetransmit data 403_N for the Nth individual network (the transmit data806_N for the Nth individual network in FIG. 8) based on the controlsignal 409.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 does not always output all ofthe transmit data 403_1 for the first individual network, the transmitdata 403_2 for the second individual network, . . . , and the transmitdata 403_N for the Nth individual network. The transmit datadistributing unit 402 outputs transmit data of individual networksincluding communication stations which send a modulated signal.Information on how to control distribution by the transmit datadistributing unit 402 is included in the control signal 409.

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 takesthe received data 404_1 from the first individual network (the receiveddata 805_1 from the first individual network in FIG. 8), the receiveddata 404_2 from the second individual network (the received data 805_2from the second individual network in FIG. 8), . . . , and the receiveddata 404_N from the Nth individual network (the received data 805_N fromthe Nth individual network in FIG. 8), and the control signal 409 asinput, performs analysis and distribution of the received data based onthe control signal 409, and outputs the received data 406 (received data803_1 in FIG. 8).

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 alsoretrieves a terminal request from control information contained in eachof the received data 404_1 from the first individual network, receiveddata 404_2 from the second individual network, . . . , and received data404_N from the Nth individual network, and outputs the terminal requestsignal 407. The terminal request contains information on communicationstations that the terminal can access and/or information oncommunication stations with which the terminal has already establishedlinks, for example.

The wireless communication scheme selecting unit 408 takes the(network-side) request signal 400 and the terminal request signal 407 asinput, and determines communication stations which will send a modulatedsignal and communication stations which will receive a modulated signal,and outputs the control signal 409 including these information.

Next, a process for a terminal to acquire content on a network that islocated further upstream of the host network via individual network(s)including communication station(s) and a host network (# Z) in thisembodiment will be described. The host network includes the host proxyserver and the host server described in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 shows an exampleof communication condition. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the terminalestablishes links with the first to fourth individual networks includingthe first to fourth communication stations respectively, and requestscontent data via at least one or more of these individual networks.

This embodiment involves a process to register information on individualnetworks that the terminal can access with the host network (an initialsetting process) and a process for the terminal to acquire content. Anexample of the initial setting process will be described first.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the initial settingprocess in the second embodiment. The process shown in FIG. 11 is theinitial setting process performed by the terminal with the host network# Z. FIG. 11 shows only one individual network for the sake ofsimplicity.

The terminal accesses the host network # Z via one individual network(S1101). Here, the terminal may receive a response indicating asuccessful access from the host network # Z.

The terminal then transmits access information on N individual networksrespectively including N communication stations that the terminal canaccess (connect to) to the host proxy server of the host network # Z viaone individual network (S1102).

Based on the access information, the host proxy server of the hostnetwork # Z registers the information on the individual networksincluding communication stations that the terminal can access (at somelocation) (S1103).

For example, the terminal may be equipped with a modem related to amobile phone but have no contract with a company that provides datacommunication over a mobile phone. In such a case, a network associatedwith mobile phones will not be included in individual networks includingcommunication stations that the terminal can access. That is, a networkcorresponding to a modem that exists as such in a terminal but does notfunction as a modem due to contract and the like will not be included inthe individual networks including communication stations that theterminal can access.

While the example of FIG. 11 shows a case where the individual networkvia which the terminal accesses the network # Z is the same as theindividual network via which the terminal transmits access informationto the host proxy server, they may be different from each other.

After completion of the initial setting process shown in FIG. 11, theterminal obtains content data via the host network # Z.

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing the procedure of the contentacquisition method in this embodiment. For the sake of simplicity, FIG.12 shows only one individual network. In the following, the procedure ofthe content acquisition method will be described with reference to FIG.12.

The terminal transmits information on individual networks includingcommunication stations with which it has already established links (linkinformation) to the host proxy server of the host network # Z via anindividual network including one of the communication stations (S1201).For example, the link information includes information on M individualnetworks respectively including M communication stations (M being aninteger from 2 to N inclusive) with which the terminal has establishedlinks. This provides the host proxy server of the host network # Z withlink information on communication stations with which the terminal hasalready established links.

The host proxy server of the host network # Z registers the linkinformation on individual networks including communication stations withwhich the terminal has already established links (S1202).

The terminal transmits a request for transmitting content data via anindividual network including one of the communication stations by way ofthe proxy server of that individual network (S1203).

Based on the link information on communication stations with which theterminal has already established links, the host proxy server of thehost network # Z selects individual networks including communicationstations to be used for transmitting content data (S1204). For example,the host proxy server of the host network # Z selects L individualnetworks (L being an integer from 2 to M inclusive) based on the linkinformation.

The host proxy server of the host network # Z distributes content datato the individual network(s) including the communication station(s) tobe used for transmitting content data and transmits them (S1205). Theremay be a plurality of individual networks including communicationstations which will send content data.

Each of the individual networks including the communication stationstransmits content data via its proxy server in accordance with theinstruction from the host proxy server of the host network # Z (S1206).For example, when the host proxy server selects L individual networks,each of the L individual networks transmits the content data.

The terminal receives the content data transmitted from at least one ormore individual networks including the communication station(s), andperforms reception processing and combining processing on the receiveddata to obtain the content data (S1207). For example, when receivingcontent data via L individual networks, the terminal performs receptionprocessing for each of the L communication schemes after receiving thedata. The terminal then combines the data after reception processing toobtain the content.

While the example of FIG. 12 shows that content data is transmitted viaa single individual network, content data may be transmitted via aplurality of individual networks. Also, while the example of FIG. 12shows a case where the individual network via which the terminaltransmits link information to the proxy server, the individual networkvia which the terminal makes a request for content data, and theindividual network via which content data is transmitted to the terminalare the same one individual network, they may be different from eachother.

Details of the communication conditions in FIG. 12 are as shown in FIG.8. The terminal described in FIG. 12 has the configuration shown in FIG.2. The host proxy server described in FIG. 12 has the configurationshown in FIG. 4. The operation at S1204 described in FIG. 12 isconducted by the wireless communication scheme selecting unit 408 ofFIG. 4. The operation at S1205 is conducted by the transmit datadistributing unit 402 of FIG. 4.

The received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405 takesthe received data 404_1 from the first individual network, the receiveddata 404_2 from the second individual network, . . . , and the receiveddata 404_N from the Nth individual network, and the control signal 409as input. The received data analysis and received data distributing unit405 then performs analysis and distribution of the received data basedon the control signal 409, and outputs the received data 406. With thisconfiguration, the received data analysis and received data distributingunit 405 conducts the receiving operations at S1201 and S1203 in FIG.12.

To the received data analysis and received data distributing unit 405,not all of the received data 404_1 from the first individual network,the received data 404_2 from the second individual network, . . . , andthe received data 404_N from the Nth individual network are alwaysinput. To the received data analysis and received data distributing unit405, only received data from individual networks that received amodulated signal from the terminal 810 are input. Information on how tocontrol analysis and distribution of received data by the received dataanalysis and received data distributing unit 405 is included in thecontrol signal 409.

Next, the content transmitting method described with FIGS. 10, 11, and12 will be described using FIGS. 7A to 7C.

For example, assume that, based on FIG. 11, the host proxy server of thehost network # Z registers the first individual network including thefirst communication station, the second individual network including thesecond communication station, and the fourth network including thefourth communication station as individual networks includingcommunication stations that the terminal can access.

Assume further that, based on FIG. 12, the host proxy server of the hostnetwork # Z makes selection so that content data is to be transmittedvia the first individual network including the first communicationstation and the fourth individual network including the fourthcommunication station. This selection is made by the wirelesscommunication scheme selecting unit 408 of FIG. 4.

How the transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 of the host proxyserver having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 distributes the transmitdata in this embodiment will be described using FIGS. 7A to 7C.

FIG. 7A illustrates the transmit data 401 in FIG. 4, FIG. 7B illustratesthe transmit data 403_1 for the first individual network in FIG. 4, andFIG. 7C illustrates the transmit data for the fourth individual networkin FIG. 4. The horizontal axis in FIGS. 7A to 7C represents time.

As shown in FIG. 7A, it is assumed that data are input to the transmitdata distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 as data #1, data #2, data #3, . . ., with respect to the time on the horizontal axis. The unit of data maybe any of bit, byte, packet, or frame.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 then determines tosend data #1 via the first individual network including the firstcommunication station; thus the data is placed as shown in FIG. 7B.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 also determines tosend data #2, data #3, data #7, data #9, . . . via the first individualnetwork including the first communication station; thus the data areplaced as shown in FIG. 7B.

The transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 further determines tosend data #4 via the fourth individual network including the fourthcommunication station; thus the data is placed as shown in FIG. 7C.

Similarly, the transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 determinesto send data #5, data #6, data #8, data #10, . . . via the fourthindividual network including the fourth communication station; thus thedata are placed as shown in FIG. 7C.

In this embodiment, the transmit data distributing unit 402 of FIG. 4 ofthe host proxy server, having the configuration shown in FIG. 4,distributes the data shown in FIG. 7B to the first individual networkand the data shown in FIG. 7C to the fourth individual network. Thefirst communication station included in the first individual network andthe fourth communication station included in the fourth individualnetwork each send the distributed data to the terminal.

Data related to the content requested by the terminal for transmissionmay include an information packet comprising information bits for thebody data of the content and a parity packet comprising parity bitsattached for error correction of the body data of the content. In thiscase, the data related to the content will be coded with an errorcorrection code. The error correction code introduced in this layer isreferred to as application layer forward error correction (FEC). At thecommunication stations described hereinafter, coding with the errorcorrection code is performed again for wireless transmission, forexample. That is, error correction coding at the physical layer (PHYlayer) is performed. When an information packet and a parity packet aretransmitted, the individual network including the communication stationthat transmits the information packet may be different from theindividual network including the communication station that transmitsthe parity packet. By receiving the information packet and the paritypacket via different individual networks, reception processing at theterminal apparatus is kept from becoming complicated.

When the application layer FEC is not introduced, packets would begenerated from the content body, for example.

As described above, a communication terminal capable of transmitting andreceiving modulated signals of a plurality of wireless communicationschemes shares link information on individual networks includingcommunication stations with which it already established links with thehost proxy server present on the host network. Based on the linkinformation, the host proxy server instructs a plurality ofcommunication stations to send data of the requested content to theterminal. This makes the terminal obtain content data via a plurality ofcommunication stations corresponding to a plurality of communicationschemes, efficiently improving the data transmission rate. Furthermore,this provides the effect of improved efficiency of frequencyutilization.

This embodiment has been described by taking wireless LAN, Bluetooth®,the third generation mobile phone, and the fourth generation mobilephone as examples of communication schemes as described in FIG. 3, butcommunication schemes are not limited to these. This embodiment can besimilarly practiced when other wireless communication scheme is selectedas one of the communication schemes used for simultaneous transmission.

Although it is described as proxy server in this embodiment, the proxyserver may instead be the server. Likewise, the server may instead bethe proxy server. Accordingly, a configuration including no proxy serveror no server is also possible.

Although it is described as host proxy server in this embodiment, thehost proxy server may instead be the host server. Likewise, the hostserver may instead be the host proxy server. Accordingly, aconfiguration including no host proxy server or no host server is alsopossible.

It goes without saying that the embodiments and other matters describedherein may be practiced in combination.

In addition, the embodiments and other matters are only illustrative;when specific modulation schemes, error (erasure) correction codingschemes (such as the error correction code, code length, and coding ratebeing used), control information, and the like are illustrated, forexample, a practice with a similar configuration is still possible withapplication of other modulation schemes, error (erasure) correctioncoding schemes (such as the error correction code, code length, andcoding rate being used), control information, and the like.

As to the modulation scheme, the embodiments and other matters describedherein can be still practiced with a modulation scheme other than onesdescribed herein. For example, modulation schemes such as amplitudephase shift keying (APSK) (for example, 16 APSK, 64 APSK, 128 APSK, 256APSK, 1024 APSK, 4096 APSK), pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) (forexample, 4 PAM, 8 PAM, 16 PAM, 64 PAM, 128 PAM, 256 PAM, 1024 PAM, 4096PAM), phase shift keying (PSK) (for example, BPSK, QPSK, 8 PSK, 16 PSK,64 PSK, 128 PSK, 256 PSK, 1024 PSK, 4096 PSK), quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) (for example, 4 QAM, 8 QAM, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 128 QAM,256 QAM, 1024 QAM, 4096 QAM) may be applied, or the mapping may beuniform or non-uniform in such modulation schemes.

The transmission method used within a wireless communication scheme maybe a transmission method in which the transmitting apparatus transmitssignals via a single antenna and the receiving apparatus receivessignals via one or more antenna (single-input single-output (SISO)transmission method or single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transmissionmethod), or a method in which the transmitting apparatus transmits aplurality of streams and the receiving apparatus receives modulatedsignals at one or more antennas (multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)transmission scheme or multiple-input single-output (MISO) transmissionscheme). It is also possible to employ space-time block code orspace-time trellis code (when a multicarrier scheme such as OFDM isemployed, symbols may be arranged in the time axis direction, in thefrequency axis direction, or the frequency-time axis direction).

The present disclosure is not limited to what is described in the aboveembodiments but can be practiced in any form intended for attaining theobject of the present disclosure and related or associated objects, suchas follows, for example.

(1) A program descriptive of the procedure of the operation of thecommunication apparatus on the communication station side described inthe above embodiments may be prestored in read-only memory (ROM), fromwhich the program may be read and executed by a central processing unit(CPU). Alternatively, a program descriptive of the procedure of theoperation of the communication apparatus on the communication stationside may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, from which theprogram may be stored in random access memory (RAM) of a computer sothat the program stored in the RAM is read and executed by the CPU ofthe computer.

(2) Configurations such as the above-described embodiments may beimplemented in large scale integration (LSI), which is typically anintegrated circuit. They may be individually implemented as singlechips, or all or some of the configurations of an embodiment may beimplemented as a single chip.

Although referred to as LSI here, it may be also called integratedcircuit (IC), system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on thedegree of integration.

The technique for circuit integration is not limited to LSI but mayadopt a dedicated circuit or a general purpose processor. A fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), which can be programmed after LSImanufacture, or a reconfigurable processor permitting reconfiguration ofconnections and/or settings of circuit cells inside the LSI may beutilized.

Further, provided that a circuit integration technique replacing LSIemerge with advancement in semiconductor technology or other derivativetechnology, such a technique could be employed for functional blockintegration, of course. Application of biotechnology is one suchpossibility.

Herein, the transmitting apparatus can be provided in communication orbroadcast equipment such as broadcast stations, base stations, accesspoints, terminals, or mobile phones; then the receiving apparatus can beprovided in communication equipment such as television sets, radios,terminals, personal computers, mobile phones, access points, or basestations, for example. The transmitting apparatus and receivingapparatus herein can also be some equipment having communicationcapability and capable of being connected to a apparatus for executingapplications, such as a television set, radio, personal computer, mobilephone, via some interface.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, symbols other than datasymbols, for example, pilot symbols (preambles, unique words,postambles, reference symbols, and so forth), or symbols for controlinformation, may be arranged in any manner within a frame. In addition,although referred herein as pilot symbols or symbols for controlinformation, they may be named in any way as the function itself isimportant.

Pilot symbols may be known symbols modulated with PSK modulation in atransceiver (or the receiver may know the symbols transmitted by thetransmitter through synchronization) for example; the receiver will usethe symbols to perform frequency synchronization, time synchronization,(per-modulated-signal) channel estimation (estimation of channel stateinformation (CSI)), signal detection, and the like.

The symbols for control information are symbols for transmittinginformation that needs to be transmitted to the other party ofcommunication other than data (such for an application) in order toimplement communication (for example, the modulation scheme, error(erasure) correction coding scheme, and the coding rate for the error(erasure) correction coding scheme being used for communication, settinginformation for upper layers, and so forth).

Although it is necessary to inform the transmitting apparatus and thereceiving apparatus of the transmission method (MIMO, SISO, time-spaceblock code, interleaving scheme), modulation scheme, error correctioncoding scheme, and packet-level error (erasure) correction scheme,description of them is omitted in some embodiments. Symbols fortransmitting these pieces of information will be present in framestransmitted by the transmitting apparatus, and the receiving apparatuswill change its operation by receiving them.

The present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described butmay be practiced with various modifications. For example, while theembodiments are described as being practiced as a communicationapparatus, the communication method may alternatively be implemented insoftware.

According to the present disclosure, a plurality of communicationstations transmit a plurality of modulated signals so that data isefficiently transmitted from a network through negotiation by acommunication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving modulatedsignals of a plurality of wireless communication schemes with a proxyserver present in the network. The communication terminal receives aplurality of modulated signals to obtain data. The present disclosure isaccordingly useful for improving the efficiency of frequencyutilization, for example.

What is claimed is:
 1. A terminal apparatus comprising: a transmitterwhich, in operation, transmits to a proxy server link informationrelated to M individual networks via one of the M individual networksand transmits a transmission request for content via one of the Mindividual networks, M being an integer that is 2 or more, each of the Mindividual networks including corresponding one of M communicationstations with which the terminal apparatus has established links,wherein the M communication stations employ different communicationschemes from each other; a receiver which, in operation, receives aninformation packet for body data of the content via a first network andreceives a parity packet added for error correction of the body data ofthe content via a second network different from the first network,wherein the information packet and the parity packet are distributed bythe proxy server on a packet-by-packet basis to one of the first networkand the second network among L individual networks selected by the proxyserver based on the transmitted link information, L being an integerfrom 2 to M inclusive, and performs reception processing on theinformation packet and the parity packet; and a received data analyzerwhich, in operation, combines data after the reception processing toobtain the content.
 2. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1,wherein selection of the L individual networks is made by a host networklocated upstream of the M individual networks.
 3. The terminal apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the data related to the content isdistributed to the L individual networks by the host network, and thereceiver receives via the L individual networks the data related to thecontent transmitted in accordance with respective communication schemesthat differ per individual network.
 4. The terminal apparatus accordingto claim 2, wherein an error correction coding scheme to be applied tothe body data of the content is determined by the host network.
 5. Theterminal apparatus according to claim 2, wherein prior to transmittingthe link information, the transmitter transmits access informationrelated to N communication stations that the terminal apparatus canconnect to, N being an integer equal to or larger than M, and the accessinformation is registered to the host network.
 6. The terminal apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the L individual networks selected basedon the link information are dynamically configured by the host network.7. A communication method comprising: transmitting to a proxy serverlink information related to M individual networks via one of theindividual networks and transmitting a transmission request for contentvia one of the M individual networks, M being an integer that is 2 ormore, each of the M individual networks including corresponding one of Mcommunication stations with which the terminal apparatus has establishedlinks, wherein the M communication stations employ differentcommunication schemes from each other; receiving an information packetfor body data of the content via a first network and receiving a paritypacket added for error correction of the body data of the content via asecond network different from the first network, wherein the informationpacket and the parity packet are distributed by the proxy server on apacket-by-packet basis to one of the first network and the secondnetwork among L individual networks selected by the proxy server basedon the transmitted link information, L being an integer from 2 to Minclusive, and performing reception processing on the information packetand the parity packet; and combining data after the reception processingto obtain the content.
 8. The communication method according to claim 7,wherein selection of the L individual networks is made by a host networklocated upstream of the M individual networks.
 9. The communicationmethod according to claim 8, wherein the data related to the content isdistributed to the L individual networks by the host network, and thecommunication method comprising: receiving the data related to thecontent transmitted in accordance with respective communication schemesthat differ per individual network.
 10. The communication methodaccording to claim 8, wherein an error correction coding scheme to beapplied to the body data of the content is determined by the hostnetwork.
 11. The communication method according to claim 8, comprisingprior to transmitting the link information, transmitting accessinformation related to N communication stations that the terminalapparatus can connect to, N being an integer equal to or larger than M,and registering the access information to the host network.
 12. Thecommunication method according to claim 8, wherein the L individualnetworks selected based on the link information are dynamicallyconfigured by the host network.